Short answer: There is no fixed rate for conveyancing in Ireland. Citizens Information says solicitors charge either a flat fee or a percentage of the price, and tells buyers to shop around. On top of the professional fee come fixed outlays: the Land Registry fee (€400 to €800 depending on price), €175 to register the mortgage, search fees, and stamp duty at 1% of the price up to €1 million. Ask for a written quote that separates the fee from the outlays and shows VAT.
Two parts to the bill
The professional fee is what the solicitor charges for the work: reading the title, raising requisitions, checking planning compliance, exchanging contracts, drawing down the mortgage, registering you as owner. The outlays are what the solicitor pays out on your behalf and passes on at cost. Quotes that look cheap often leave the outlays off. Compare like with like.
The professional fee
Citizens Information is deliberately vague here, because the Law Society does not set a scale: “Some solicitors charge a flat fee and some charge a percentage of the purchase price of the home.” VAT at 23% applies to the fee. In practice a flat fee is the norm for a standard house purchase, and a percentage fee is more common on expensive or complicated titles. Three quotes take an afternoon and the spread between them is usually several hundred euro. Ask what is included: a leasehold apartment with a management company, an unregistered title, or a house with an extension and no planning file all mean more work and some firms charge extra for each.
The outlays, with the official figures
- Land Registry fee to register you as the new owner, set by the Land Registration (Fees) Order 2012: €400 where the price is up to €50,000, €600 from €50,000 to €200,000, €700 from €200,000 to €400,000, €800 over €400,000.
- Registering the mortgage (a charge on the folio): €175.
- Stamp duty, paid through the solicitor to Revenue: 1% of the price up to €1 million, 2% on the part between €1 million and €1.5 million, 6% on the part above €1.5 million. On a new build the duty is charged on the price before VAT.
- Searches on closing day: Land Registry or Registry of Deeds, planning, judgments, bankruptcy and company searches, to confirm nothing has been registered against the seller or the property since the contract. Citizens Information lists these without a figure; the law searchers charge per search and the solicitor passes it on.
- Commissioner for oaths and swearing fees for declarations, a small fixed amount each.
- Copy folio and map from Tailte Éireann: €5 for a plain copy of the folio online, €40 for a certified copy with map.
A worked example on a €350,000 second-hand house: stamp duty €3,500, Land Registry €700, mortgage charge €175, plus the professional fee and VAT, searches and a certified folio. The outlays alone come to about €4,400 before the solicitor’s own fee.
What the solicitor does not check
Conveyancing is about title and contract. The solicitor confirms that the seller owns what they are selling, that the planning paperwork matches what was built, and that no charge follows the house. They do not survey the roof, and they do not look at the OPW flood maps, the EPA radon map, the applications lodged next door or the BER advisory report unless you ask. That is the gap the report fills for one Eircode, for €19.99: it gives you the public-record questions to put to the solicitor and the surveyor before you sign.
Questions people ask
- When do I pay the solicitor?
- Usually on closing, from the money you send for the balance of the price. Some firms ask for the outlays, especially stamp duty, before closing so they can pay Revenue and the Land Registry on time.
- Can I use the same solicitor as the seller?
- No. Each side needs its own solicitor; a solicitor cannot act for both buyer and seller in the same sale.
- Is the Land Registry fee the same for a new build?
- Yes, the fee follows the price band. If the site was never registered before, there may be a first registration as well, which the developer’s side normally handles.
- Does stamp duty apply to first-time buyers?
- Yes, at the same 1% rate. Help to Buy is a separate refund of income tax for new builds; it does not reduce stamp duty.
Related: Land Registry fees explained, sale agreed: what happens next, folio search on landdirect.ie.